Valve



' June 18. 1929.

R. H. THORNE VALVE Fild June 18, 1925 INVENTOR Tborne,-

ATTORNEYS Patented June 18, 1929.

UNITED STATES ROBERT HARRY THORNEQOF WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

VALVE.

V Application filed June 18, 1925. Serial No. 38,004.

This invention relates in general to valves and more particularly to an improved forged valve.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved forged valve which is easy to manufacture and of substantially the same size and weight as a similar cast valve where the physical properties of the forging and casting are the same.

Another object is to provide a valve of this character which is readily convertible from a screw to a flange type of a valve.

A further object resides in the provision of valve, of this character wherein the oint between the valve and the member attached thereto is made fluid tight in an easy, practical and comparatively inexpensive manner.

The advantages and capacities of the present. invention will perhaps be better understood when it is considered that until a comparatively few years ago all valves for high pressure work were made of cast iron or semi-steel except in a few isolated instances where brass was used. As the engineers in- .troduced higher pressure and higher degrees of temperature the cast iron valve and valve made from semi-steel were discarded in favor of cast steel, the reason for this being that cast iron and semi-steel are brittle metals and when subjected to undue stresses are like- 1y to snap. Steel, on the other hand, being a ductile metal will deform before it will fracture. One of the principal objections to steel valves has been the difficulty in getting castings made that were sound, the earlier steel castings being very porous and this difficulty is by no means overcome at the present time.

Forged steel has all of the advantages of cast steel with none of its disadvantages altho'it has a disadvantage of its own, this being the difficulty in forging. Experts in forging state that it is impossible to forge the upper end of material in a cylinder into a flange where the required material to make the flange exceeds that amount contained in a height equal to three times the thickness. The maximum thickness flange that could be obtained in this manner would not be strong enough to give the desired results. These difliculties have been widely recognized by valve manufacturers and in an effort to overcome them some valve manufacturers have increased the cylinder thickness very materially in order to get a suflicient amount of metal to make the desired thickness of flange. The increase in the size and weight of the valve coupled with the difliculties involved in forging the flange integral with the valve renders this expedient undesirable and unsatisfactory Still another expedient that has been resorted to is to forge the valve solid and then machine it out to the proper design but this is undesirable because of the extremely high expense involved.

The present invention consists in forging the body of the valve in its ultimate rough form except that no attempt is made to forge the attaching flanges integral with the neck or attaching portions of the valve. The flanges are formed separate and, are screw threaded on the neck or attaching portions. The valve, its neck or attaching portions are made of ordinary size and thickness except for the small additional amount of metal necessary to permit the machining of the screw threads thereon. The end of the neck or attaching portions provides a seat for a gasket interposed between the neck or at taching portion and thebonnet or member connected to the valve so that a fluid tight joint is had independently of the screw threaded connection between the flange and the neck or attaching'portion.

Other objects and advantages reside in certain novel features of the construction, arrangement and combination of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a view in central vertical longitudinal section showing a valve embodying the present invention Figure 2 is a view partly in end elevation and partly in central transverse vertical section, and showing an inlet and outlet in a somewhat modified form from that illustrated in Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a view in horizontal section on line 3-8 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 1 designates the body of the valve which has the usual extensions or attaching portions 2 and 3, to which the usual pipe and fittings (not shown) may be attached and the usual neck or attaching portion 4 to which the bonnet 5 may be attached by bolts and nuts 6. The bonnet 5 and the pipes or fittings referred to may be broadly characterized as attached members.

The valve body 1 and its integral attaching portions 2, 3 and 4 are constructed of forged steel and are of ordinary or normal thickness in that they need only be and are of the thickness necessary to provide the strength essential to withstand the pressures and heat to which the valve is subjected with the exception that the ends of the attaching portions 2, 8and 4 are made slightly heavier to provide the metal necessary to permit of the formation of screw threads thereon. In the drawings the attaching portions and 4 are shown as provided with external screw threads indicated at 7 and 8. The attaching portion 3 is also adapted to have similar external screw threads formed thereon but in the particular valve shown this attaching portion 3 is provided with internal screw threads 9. Fig. 1 incorporates for purposes of illustration only both the flange and screw end types of valve.' I

Attaching flanges 10 and 11 are provided and are forged or otherwise formed separate from the valve and its attaching portions, the flanges 10 and 11 having internal screw threads 12 and 13 respectively engaged with the external screw threads 7 and 8 of their respective attaching portions2 and 4. The attaching flanges 10 and 11 are of annular form and in order to permit the screw threaded connection just described the attaching portions are of cylindrical form as'far as neces- 'sary to provide threads for the flanges. The attaching flanges and the attached members have bolt holes which register in the assembly to accommodate the bolts of the bolts and nuts 6.

The outer ends of the attaching portions provide seats for sealing or packing gaskets which are clamped between said seats and the attached members to provide a fluid tight joint independent of the screw threads. This feature is illustrated in detail in connection with the bonnet or attaching portion 5, the gasket being'shown at 14 and being received on a seat 15 provided by the outer or upper end of the neck or attaching portion 4:. The lower end ofthe bonnet is designated'at 16 and directly engages the upper side of the gasket. Around its periphery and slightly above its upper end the bonnet isformed with a com panion flange 17 for the attaching flange 11 and it is with these flanges 17 and 11 that the bolts and nuts 6v coaot.

In producing valves in accordance with the present invention the valves are forged approximately to the desired shape, leaving only the usual machine work for finishing and of course the screw threading of the attaching portions. All of the advantages of a forged steel valve are had and none ofthe disadvantages are incurred. The screw threading betweenthe attaching. flanges and the attachin g portions need not be fluid tight due to the fact that the gasket seat of bearing'is on the attaching portion and not on the flange.

Only one type of valve need be carried in stock since the valve may be readily converted to either a screw or flange'type of valve.

It will-be seen that the invention involves novel method consisting in forging a valve body and attaching portions of normal thickness and weight to the approximate design of the valve, machining the valve body and the neck providing a gasket seat, the annular attaching flange projecting outwardly beyond the said seat, a gasket fitted on the seat of the neck and surrounded by the projecting portion of the annular attaching flange, a

bonnet havingfits lower end fittingwithin the projected portion of the annular flange engaged with the gasket, said bonnet having a companion flange offset inwardly from its lower end and engageable with theannular attaching flange, and fastening devices co-acting with the flanges for securing the body to the neck. i

ROBERT HARRY THORNE. 

